"Pictures in the Dark" is a song by Mike Oldfield

Mike Oldfield

Michael Gordon Oldfield is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age, and more recently, dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature...

 released as a single mainly in Europe in 1985 (see 1985 in music

1985 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1985.-January–March:*January 1 - The newest music video channel, VH-1, debuts on American cable. It is aimed at an older demographic than its sister station, MTV...

). Singers on this single includes his girlfriend at the time, Anita Hegerland

Anita Hegerland

Anita Hegerland , is a Norwegian singer famous for her childhood career in the Scandinavian and German markets and subsequent vocal contributions to amongst others Mike Oldfield's work.- Biography :...

, Barry Palmer

Barry Palmer (British singer)

Barry Palmer, born 1958 in England, is a British singer who was one of Mike Oldfield's vocalists around 1984.-Biography and career:Barry Palmer's music career began in 1976, when he became a lead vocalist of the German rock band Triumvirat, with which he recorded three albums...

 and well-known Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 choirboy

Choirboy

A choirboy is a boy member of a choir, also known as a treble.As a derisive slang term, it refers to a do-gooder or someone who is morally upright, in the same sense that "Boy Scout" refers to someone who is considered honorable or conscientious.- History :The use of choirboys in Christian...

 Aled Jones

Aled Jones

Aled Jones is a Welsh singer and television/radio personality, broadcaster and television presenter who first came to fame as a treble...

.

Since the song was not connected to an album it was rare until recently when it was released on compilation albums such as Collection

Collection (Mike Oldfield album)

- CD one :# "Moonlight Shadow" – 3:36# "To France" – 4:43# "Five Miles Out" – 4:15# "Shadow on the Wall" – 5:18# "Foreign Affair" – 3:55# "Sentinel" – 3:56# "Family Man" – 3:46# "Heaven's Open" – 4:26# "Pictures in the Dark" – 4:20# "Innocent" – 3:30...

in 2002 and The Platinum Collection

The Platinum Collection (Mike Oldfield album)

The Platinum Collection is a 2006 Virgin Records compilation album written and mostly performed by Mike Oldfield. It contains most of Oldfield's best known work, and some rare mixes of songs that had previously only been available as B-sides to singles....

in 2006.

Music video

A music video was released for this single and Anita Hegerland and Aled Jones both appear in the video, but Barry Palmer does not; his vocals are mimed by Oldfield. The video includes a lot of computer graphics. The video was available on The Wind Chimes

The Wind Chimes

The Wind Chimes is a video album by Mike Oldfield released in 1988 on VHS and Laserdisc by Virgin. It features the full video album for 1987's Islands along with a number of Oldfield's other music videos from the 1980s....

(VHS

VHS

The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....

 and Laserdisc

Laserdisc

LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...

) and is also on the DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 version of Elements - The Best of Mike Oldfield

Elements - The Best of Mike Oldfield (video)

Elements - The Best of Mike Oldfield is a video collection by Mike Oldfield released in October 1993. It was released by Virgin Records on VHS and Laser disc...

.

12-inch vinyl

1. "Pictures in the Dark" (Extended Version) (5:54)
2. "Legend" (2:24)
3. "The Trap" (2:37)

Charts

Chart (1985)	Peak position
Austrian Singles Chart	3
German Singles Chart	4
Swiss Singles Chart	5
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	50